Well the title really says it all!! I've been lurking on here for a few weeks ready up everything, I had a 55 gallon with gouramis, corys, plecos, and a few sword tails, but after reading up on the bettas I got a pair and put them in a 5 gallon tank with a divider. I also put a heater in there, and got the water to 84 degrees. I got a male and a female on Saturday and put them in there(one on each side of the divider), and monday she was pointing down and he had a large bubble nest so I put her in with the male and sure enough they started to lay eggs. Today (wednesday) I have fry!! But I have a few questions. I got liquid fry food, but I wasn't sure what else they need and how often to feed them, also is it normal for them to fall to the bottom at first and then swim back up to the bubble nest? I took the male out as soon as they started to hatch so he didn't eat them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I wasn't expecting the whole "breeding" thing to even work but somehow I must have ended up with beginners luck, the whole process has been really neat, and hopefully the fry will make it, I would love to see what they end up looking like. Thanks in Advance

Congrats on your first batch of fry! You should leave the male in the tank with the babies until they're free swimming which can take up to 3 days after they hatch. He'll help to put them back in the nest after they fall out. Since you removed him early, lower the water level to about and inch or 2 so they don't have problems getting back into the nest. You can raise the water once they are free swimming.

It's very hard to raise betta fry on food thats not alive. I would suggest trying to get your hands on a culture of microworms, banana worms or walter worms, they will be fed to them for the first 2 weeks, then after that you need to feed them live baby brine shrimp which you will also need to culture yourself. Good luck! And do you have any pictures of the parents?!

okay like what was said above you should have kept the male in the tank longer, so if you do not lower the water level some of the fry will die. As for food you need live if you feed them liquid fry food the chances of them living is very slim, since you have so little notice you should feed them egg yoke for the first 5 days then after that you should start feeding then baby brine shrimp. You'll need live food if you want your "beginners luck" to continue

Well the title really says it all!! I've been lurking on here for a few weeks ready up everything, I had a 55 gallon with gouramis, corys, plecos, and a few sword tails, but after reading up on the bettas I got a pair and put them in a 5 gallon tank with a divider. I also put a heater in there, and got the water to 84 degrees. I got a male and a female on Saturday and put them in there(one on each side of the divider), and monday she was pointing down and he had a large bubble nest so I put her in with the male and sure enough they started to lay eggs. Today (wednesday) I have fry!! But I have a few questions. I got liquid fry food, but I wasn't sure what else they need and how often to feed them, also is it normal for them to fall to the bottom at first and then swim back up to the bubble nest? I took the male out as soon as they started to hatch so he didn't eat them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I wasn't expecting the whole "breeding" thing to even work but somehow I must have ended up with beginners luck, the whole process has been really neat, and hopefully the fry will make it, I would love to see what they end up looking like. Thanks in Advance

It is normal for them to fall from the bubblenest until they are free swimming (swimming horizontally.). They should be fed every 12 hours, and not overfed, because that will pollute the water quickly and be harmful to their health. You could try and find some baby brine shrimp eggs at Petsmart or your local fish store.

Thanks for everyones help, I got some live baby brine shrip and all seems well, I also lowered the water level and their doing good. I've been feeding them in the morning when I get up and before I go to bed. But I did a lot of research before I got the adult bettas, the only thing I didn't see was about keeping the male in longer, I read in a few places take them out when the eggs hatch. If I would have seen to keep him in I definitally would have. But the babies are 4 days old and seem to be doing well. I think there are around 50-60 fry. Their starting to swim better now also. Once their bigger I will put up some pictures if you guys would like to see what they look like. Thanks again for the help.